Fashion icon to present workshop at Congregation B’nai Shalom

Westborough – A whirlwind of fashion in the name of Tziporah Salamon will descend on Westborough’s Congregation B’nai Shalom Saturday, April 28, from 12:30-5 p.m. Salamon is a 69-year-old designer, model, raconteur, and fashion icon. This lively seminar, “The Art of Dressing,” is open to the women from throughout the community for a fee of $36. Lunch beforehand and tea and desserts after will be served, including gluten free and vegetarian options.

According to the B’nai Shalom’s website, Salamon will, “… (use) her extensive collection of antique and designer clothes to teach the elements of design. (She) will discuss balance, color, texture, harmony, scale and how to incorporate these concepts into your dressing.”

Salamon’s visit to Westborough is the result of a chance meeting 18 years ago with B’nai Shalom’s Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz at a Jewish retreat center in the Catskills.

“At the time Salamon shared a dream of turning her passion into a career. She had the most incredible sense of style and was always put together, even with a simple outfit, with shoes, earrings and a hat to match,” said Gurevitz.

“Salamon’s story epitomizes the Jewish story, and that of so many other immigrant families. Born to Holocaust survivors who fled Hungary, they first went to Israel (where she was raised), but then settled in New York,” she added. “Her father was a master tailor and her mother was a dressmaker. It was from them that she learned about the art of dressing.”

Salamon, whose friends call her Tzippy, is now living out her dream.

At the age of 62, she landed her first modeling job in the Lanvin fall/winter catalogue. Since then, she’s been featured in countless magazines and the New York Times Styles Section. She’s published a book called “The Art of Dressing.” She’s the subject of a documentary called “Advanced Style.” And, she’s traveling the country presenting workshops that are often sold-out.

A New Yorker, Salamon rides around the city on her Bianchi Milano bicycle, always dressed in eclectic outfits. She’s purchased her vintage and antique clothes on a limited budget, earned through a variety of jobs, including working as a coat check attendant.

Salamon spends years putting together each outfit, and won’t wear one until it is perfect in her mind.

“To me, (outfits are) a work of art, a painting, with every element in the outfit having to work together so that the whole is an organic, harmonious creation,” she has said.

As for dressing now, “I think with age comes self-knowledge, self-assurance, and a boldness and freedom to be yourself! … Blending in is not something I aspire to. On the contrary, I aspire to standing out and being an individual,” she added.

Salamon advises millennials to, “Buy the best (clothes) that your budget can allow; (focus on) quality over quantity; know your body; know who you are; learn from the best; go to museums; leaf through art books; watch old films; be inspired!”

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